Wireless communication devices transmit and receive information wirelessly via a wireless access node to communicate over a communication network. Typically, the wireless access node is part of a radio access network (RAN) which provides the wireless communication devices with access to further communication networks, systems, and devices. Modern wireless devices contain circuitry that enables them to communicate with many different types of wireless networks using the same antenna, such as third generation (3G) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, fourth generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE) networks, Wi-Fi local area networks, and others.
In LTE communication systems, a wireless communication device is referred to as user equipment (UE), while a wireless access node is called an enhanced node B (eNodeB). An LTE network is a high-speed data network that supports only packet switching, and thus cannot handle traditional circuit-switched voice calls. Instead, the UE typically disconnects from the LTE network and falls back to another network, such as a CDMA network. After termination of the voice call, the UE must re-register with the LTE network to resume receiving LTE data services, which involves sending a tracking area update (TAU) message to a Mobility Management Entity (MME) in the LTE network. These re-registrations introduce additional LTE Radio Access Network (RAN) signaling which can overload the LTE radio control channels and add delay in restoring LTE services.